(CNN) - Jim Scales and William Tasker have been a couple for 35 years, but only on Tuesday were they able to legally marry, thanks to Maryland's new same-sex marriage law, which went into effect with the new year.

Maryland was among three states this past November where voters approved laws allowing same-sex marriages.

At Baltimore City Hall, a celebration erupted with the first official marriage ceremonies just after midnight, similar to celebrations when laws went into effect in Washington and Maine in December.

Scales and Tasker made up the first couple in Baltimore to marry under the new law.

"Jim and I met in 1977 and at that time I just didn't really believe that gay people would ever see the day when they could marry," Tasker told CNN affiliate WBAL.

Scales agreed: "This is as happy as I've ever been, to be able to spend the rest of my life with Bill - legally - and to show the rest of the gay community that this can be done."

Seven couples exchanged vows in Baltimore in the first hours of the new year.

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